Neighborhood Interventions to Reduce Violence

PU39CH15_Kondo ARI 12 March 2018 12:26 Annual Review of Public Health Neighborhood Interventions to Reduce Violence Michelle C. Kondo,1 Elena Andreyeva,2 Eugenia C. South,3 John M. MacDonald,4 and Charles C. Branas5 1Northern Research Station, US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103, USA; email: [email protected] 2Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of ANNUAL Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6021, USA REVIEWS Further 3Department of Emergency Medicine, Center for Emergency Care Policy Research, Perelman Click here to view this article's online features: School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA • Download figures as PPT slides 4Department of Criminology, School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, • Navigate linked references Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6286, USA • Download citations • Explore related articles 5Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, • Search keywords New York, NY 10032, USA Annu. Rev. Public Health 2018. 39:253–71 Keywords First published as a Review in Advance on neighborhood interventions, neighborhood environment, violence, crime, January 12, 2018 housing, urban blight, alcohol outlets, schools, built environment The Annual Review of Public Health is online at publhealth.annualreviews.org Abstract https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-publhealth- Violence is a widespread problem that affects the physical, mental, and so- 040617-014600 cial health of individuals and communities. Violence comes with an immense Copyright c 2018 Michelle C. Kondo et al. This economic cost to its victims and society at large. Although violence interven- work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which tions have traditionally targeted individuals, changes to the built environ- permits unrestricted use, distribution, and ment in places where violence occurs show promise as practical, sustainable, reproduction in any medium, provided the original and high-impact preventive measures. This review examines studies that use author and source are credited. See credit lines of images or other third-party material in this article quasi-experimental or experimental designs to compare violence outcomes for license information for treatment and control groups before and after a change is implemented in the built environment. The most consistent evidence exists in the realm of housing and blight remediation of buildings and land. Some evidence suggests that reducing alcohol availability, improving street connectivity, and providing green housing environments can reduce violent crimes. Fi- nally, studies suggest that neither transit changes nor school openings affect community violence. 253 PU39CH15_Kondo ARI 12 March 2018 12:26 INTRODUCTION Violence is a pervasive problem that undermines the physical, mental, and social health of individuals and communities in the United States and around the world (28, 57, 86). In the United States, during 2015, more than 18,000 people died from homicide, and more than 1.5 million people were victims of nonfatal violent assaults (20). Violence is clearly a health problem because victims experience physical injuries, premature death, and adverse health behaviors (7, 19, 73, 79). Violence is also clustered in time and space (13, 40). Exposure to violence may lead to the intergenerational transmission of violence, or a “cycle of violence” (87), where childhood expe- riences such as abuse and neglect can lead to later victimization, perpetration (2), or self-harm (30, 68). Violence-related outcomes also come with an enormous economic cost. As one example, gun violence, the leading form of fatal violence, is estimated to cost the United States more than $48 billion in medical and work loss costs annually (35). Violence has many antecedents, including high-risk behaviors and high-risk environments. Altering high-risk environments, the neighborhoods and places that perpetually surround victims of violence, presents an opportunity for creating practical, sustainable, and high-impact ways to reduce violence (13). Given that violence is highly concentrated in places (63, 85), it is important to find effective place-based solutions. Violence prevention efforts have traditionally targeted individuals; although these approaches are important for curbing individual violence rates, they require significant individual effort in order to be effective and may have a limited population impact (37). Interventions that change places to promote healthy behaviors may affect a broader population and may be more sustainable by changing the structures of places that enable violence to remain persistently high (14). This review systematically examines the literature regarding place-based interventions that change neighborhood environments to prevent violence. First, we review neighborhood factors associated with violence. Then, we briefly discuss theories linking neighborhoods to violence. We then spend the bulk of the article reviewing studies of how changes to neighborhood environments have impacted violence. Finally, we give our perspective on unanswered questions and future areas of inquiry for this field. NEIGHBORHOODS AND VIOLENCE We define violence broadly as the “intentional use of physical force or power to threaten or harm others” (86, p. 5). Violence is often operationalized in research studies by reported crime, which is a legal term and involves categorization of certain acts, such as assault or homicide, as a violation of state criminal law statutes. Although we do consider studies that used reported violent crimes, we do not consider studies that focused solely on property crimes, drug offenses, or nuisance crimes. Neighborhood Factors We define the neighborhood environment as the physical and social attributes of a place (29). The physical environment can be conceptualized to include the built environment, natural spaces, and food and housing resources. The social environment encompasses local institutions and social connections between neighbors (76). Neighborhood factors that can increase risk for violence include concentrated poverty, high population turnover rates, population density (crowded housing), and low levels of social cohesion. Low levels of social cohesion are indicative of social disorder and lack of collective efficacy, which are risk factors for violence (77). Physical disorder, vacant buildings, and vacant lots can influence 254 Kondo et al. PU39CH15_Kondo ARI 12 March 2018 12:26 violence (15). Mortgage foreclosures and ensuing vacancy have been associated with increased violent crimes (26, 47, 59). High density of alcohol outlets and high drug availability increase the risk of firearm homicide (44). Neighborhood protective factors have also been measured. A case-control study of adolescent homicide victims in Philadelphia found that the presence of street lighting, illuminated walk/don’t walk signs, painted crosswalks, public transportation, parks, and maintained vacant lots were significantly associated with at least 76% decreased odds of a homicide (27). A similar case-control study of adolescent victims of gun assault found that the presence of tree canopy cover significantly re- duced the odds of gun assault in high-risk neighborhoods by 31% (56). Neighborhood attachment (residents’ feelings of attachment and belonging to their neighborhood) (4) and high collective efficacy (neighbors’ ability to detect and intervene in antisocial behavior) are also associated with protection against violence (49). Repeated exposure to violence or the threat of violence can result in chronic stress, which has detrimental physiologic effects that can impact long-term cardiovascular health (61, 66, 88). People who live in high-crime neighborhoods may suffer from chronic fear and vigilance even if they are not directly exposed to violent crime (75, 81). People who feel unsafe may reduce their physical activity and adopt maladaptive coping strategies such as substance use, may develop mental illness, or may withdraw from neighborhood social and civic life (5, 32, 33, 46, 71, 81, 91). Theories Linking Neighborhoods and Violence A number of theories attempt to explain how neighborhood environments influence violence. Many of these theories come from the field of criminology, which is focused on explaining all forms of crime and not just violent acts. Routine activities, environmental design, and situational crime prevention. Routine activities theory characterizes crime as an opportunistic process: Motivated offenders recognize criminal opportunities during daily routine activities and act on them. The elements of opportunity for a crime to occur involve a “motivated offender” who encounters a “suitable target” in the ab- sence of a “capable guardian” (24, p. 590). Situational crime prevention (23) and crime prevention through environmental design (50, 67) draw on mechanisms outlined in routine activities theory and suggest that features of the built environment make areas more or less attractive to would-be offenders by affecting natural surveillance, access control, target hardening (e.g., installing security measures), and signs of territoriality (25). Environmental criminology also draws on these ideas (84) and emphasizes the fact that committed crimes occur only when appropriate opportunities are presented to motivated offenders. Manipulating the elements of crime

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